Concrete Staining Question

[Solidus-snake]

Well im wanting to stain the floor of the soon to be man cave.

But the previous owners of the house for some reason have got large what apppears to be spills of lighter bluish stain in several areas. Looks like there was several accidental spiils, like it wasnt intended.

Im going with a gunpowder dark gray. Will these blue spots show through the new stain?

[OakRidgeStars]

Why not use a good quality garage floor paint instead?. There's is a lot more prep involved, but you'll have a better result.

http://ucoatit.com/

[El Jefe]

Good question. The only process I'm familiar with is using powdered stain on wet, fresh concrete. Not sure how the ones work on existing material.

[El Jefe]

Why not use a good quality garage floor paint instead?. There's is a lot more prep involved, but you'll have a better result.

http://ucoatit.com/

Yes, if your prep work is good, epoxy paint is hard to beat on concrete.

[ubersoldate]

I used to do concrete stains in Phoenix when I was a contractor all the time, in fact I did a gunsnet members living room about three years ago.

Its a big deal.. Alot of stages, but its worth it. Its a see through, which gives it the look.

Epoxy is a different beast though, I did alot of those as well, but they are solid and has a different look. Its more of a garage look. I did a room in my old house, and although tough as nails, it really didnt look like fine stains do...It looked like a garage, and it did wear. Stains tend to faux out and wear in a more natural way than a solid epoxy.

Staining concrete is great, It looks amazing if done right. Like marble..
You should be able to get the blue to cover if you go with the right color.

Im doing a marble stain in my master b room when this spring...Been sitting on the stain since sept when I did a house in Carefree Az.

Do your prep, rough it up, dont just try to cover it, and it will look good. Dont cut corners and it will last a lifetime and itll be a eyecatcher..

[uncas1]

I did 2 rooms in my last home using Behr Concrete Stain (translucent). Looked awesome, very easy. make sure you follow the steps on the can, especially cleaning the concrete. Use the primer, then follow with the stain. I used 2 coats. One would have been fine, I just wanted it to be a little darker. Finish with 3 coats of the high gloss sealer. The floors received a lot of traffic and showed no wear. It ended up being a major selling point to the buyers.

I have photos of the finished floors that I can send you.

[Congo]

Kewl, I just figured out that reply with a quote is a two step "reply...reply" step.... ;)


But the previous owners of the house for some reason have got large what apppears to be spills of lighter bluish stain in several areas.
...
Im going with a gunpowder dark gray. Will these blue spots show through the new stain?
I hope so if you're staining it. It comes pre-stained....and you didn't have to pay for it.

Like Uber stated, the distressed/aged look can be really cool.
Mebbe go to the local hardware/landscape store and buy some concrete pavers and play with them.

I've not done epoxy floors, but urethanes. Prolly way overboard, but I've always viewed epoxies as duller and urethanes as shinier and don't chalk.

[ubersoldate]

I've not done epoxy floors, but urethanes. Prolly way overboard, but I've always viewed epoxies as duller and urethanes as shinier and don't chalk.

Like poly-rock stuff?
Ive seen some nice floors with that stuff....Like a concrete, urathane, with a plastic sheet placed on it, then acid washed, and peeled...Man it looks cool, but its exspensive!

As for the BEHR stuff...Yea...Im glad it came out ok, I wouldnt use behr even when I was told I had to, I would rather walk and let someone else deal with the headache that use that crap..
It always looks good, but the longevity REALLY lacks when it comes to garage paint...

This thread is making me want to start bustin out some pics of some houses Ive done...
The best is when they do a design on the floor first, like a giant mural that I stain over...Etched with a concrete saw...Crazy stuff.

[Congo]

Like poly-rock stuff?
Tnemec. Who can't like private aircraft hangers. But for resid use, that's way overkill. But that doesn't mean I didn't do it. ;)

I'll check out that poly-rock, as tnemec is industrial stuff and I no longer have access to that. I've not done one in about 10 years, but recently looked into their other lines and was told they don't do retail, so I'm going to be looking for other products.


[behr] always looks good, but the longevity REALLY lacks when it comes to garage paint...
and from what I understand, pretty much all other behr coatings. Yesterday I had a guy call me out of the blue and ask me about how to do his garage and basement floors, and now we're yakking about this. Weird how things are sometimes.

Anywho...he's a HO, so I steered him to quikretes products at his local homer DB place. He wanted to do the "gargage coatings" that they sell at big box stores, auto places and the like and I told him it's not worth it. I've never used that stuff, but it looks like little more than small nap roll on stuff. I've never seen it look good. I just told him to use that quikrete clearcoat, tho I've not used it. He's a cheap fkr that just wants to prevent staining and prolong the life--which I think most folks should do, but that's a hard sell.


The best is when they do a design on the floor first, like a giant mural that I stain over...Etched with a concrete saw...Crazy stuff.
crazy kewl. I've not done any designs as I'm not artistic, but you're 100% right, they can be waaaay cool. I've seen some NFL logo floored garage man-garages. I could see something like that.

There should be a market for that in your neck of the sierras.

[rahatlakhoom]

I've used these acid staining products with good results.
The higher the cement content the better it takes the stain.
I've also added carbon black powder to stubborn floors and let it set under
the acid to get a darker tint. It takes some experimentation.
Use a good sealer when dry.

http://www.concretecamouflage.com/

[O.S.O.K.]

We had a back patio poured a few years ago after our remodel. We used this stuff to stain it: http://kemiko.com/

Basically, you need fresh concrete or you need to wash the old concrete with TSP really well prior to application.

This is an acid and is applied with a garden sprayer with no metal parts - all plastic. You spray it down, allow to work and then either make another application (to darken) or go on to the next step which is to rinse it down with water and let dry. Then, you apply a sealer over it.

We did the new patio as well as an existing covered patio area.

We also used this in a new construction (our previous home) inside - the entire first floor of the house was stained concrete - worked really well and looked great - and talk about "practical". Of course, this is in the south - up north, this would make for a very cold floor in the winter unless you had radiant heat...

Any stains on the concrete will most certainly show through this type of stain. It is just coloring what is already there.

So, if you go with a true stain, and you don't want the old spills to show - you need to remove them or change over to a paint instead.

You might consider going with a "mottled" application of darker and lighter stains - you apply the darker stain in blotches all around and then go over that with the lighter stain. This gives a two-tone look.

And then there's etching - have you considered etching some lines in the floor to make it look like placed stone? This is really cool and works very well - you just use a special diamon blade on a circular saw - you can do this and make designes and use different colors of stain as well.... check the link up top - I think there's prbably some examples shown on that sight.

[Congo]

I have photos of the finished floors that I can send you.
Why don't you just post them?
Or if it's a post count thing, he can.

[Congo]

Of course, this is in the south - up north, this would make for a very cold floor in the winter unless you had radiant heat...
Most of the units up north have basements, so the only concrete floors are in the basement and they aren't cold due to their depth. 1st and up floors are wood subfloors. That's the b**ch about that is to do any floor mudwork, ya gotta change the framing.

No basement places in the mountains here have concrete floors and use radiant heat. Come to think of it, I do remember one here in the mtns that did have a basement that had the heat manifold. That was in vail, so they probably used it to heat their garage floor or something.

Some folks are using microtoppings now. I've not used them or seen then used, so I don't know much about them.

[uncas1]

Sorry, had a time finding them.

[uncas1]

Looks like there was several accidental spiils, like it wasnt intended.

Im going with a gunpowder dark gray. Will these blue spots show through the new stain?

I would consider the stains a plus. Both of the floors I did had stains. They will show through whatever color transparent stain you use. The gunpowder dark grey will go well with the lighter blue stain thats already on the floor. Behr has several colors in the blue to grey range. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Solidus-snake]

I would consider the stains a plus. Both of the floors I did had stains. They will show through whatever color transparent stain you use. The gunpowder dark grey will go well with the lighter blue stain thats already on the floor. Behr has several colors in the blue to grey range. I wouldn't worry about it.

Awesome. Thanks for all the info guys, its great knowin I have a place to get bout any question answered.

We were looking at using Quikrete. In the link there is listed the colors, were wanting to use the Gunpowder color. Now the rep at the Hardware store said that you could apply this stuff with a roller.

Any tips from those of you who have used Quikrete Semi Transparent Stain? Any prepping involved and the best way to apply it?

I dont have a air system of any sort so Id like to go a different route from spraying.

http://www.quikretecoatings.com/products/Color%20Coatings/Semi-Transparent-Stain.html

BTW The walls are a dark maroon/ reddish color.

[uncas1]

Looks very similar to the Behr. I found the best way to apply is to first use a small pump sprayer. Spray a small section maybe 4ft by 4ft. You don't have to cover the whole area with the stain. Take and old broom and spread the stain around going outside the 4ft area. Then back roll it with a 3/8 inch nap roller. Make sure you roll it out in different directions, this will help smooth out the swirlling created by the broom and will also hide the roller marks. Move on to the next section and repeat making sure to blend in with the previous section.

The stain will set up pretty quick so you may need to work at a good pace. Once you are done you can decide if you want a second coat.

[Congo]

Sorry, had a time finding them.
Nice looking floor and color scheme. Now ya gotta get new doors. ;)

That's one of the problems with clear coats is cracks show thru. I dunno how to rectify that, but mebbe some sort of cut and patch, but that may take on a different color when staining. Old concrete will show you, new won't....till later. That's the eternal trade off.